July 2, 2001
Fifteen female Falun Dafa practitioners have died and many others are receiving emergency treatment due to brutal torture in the Wanjia Labor Camp. This is a result of the great atrocities which took place last month at the labor camp in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province.
(Please refer to http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/6/30/11803.html for the relevant report)
This incident has greatly aroused people's attention and concern. Because of its great impact, officials from the central and local governments went to Wanjia to inspect the situation. Government sources took pains to stop the spread of any news following the event. After June 20, staff members and guards from Wanjia were banned from returning home and were forced to turn in their cell phones and beepers. Telephones were sealed off to prevent any possible information from leaking out and no one was allowed to visit. Moreover, the labor camp did not even notify the family members of the deaths of their loved ones. Some local police stations informed the family members upon receiving the news from the labor camp, but later they were blamed by the labor camp for leaking this information.
When the family members would visit the labor camp, the directors would be unavailable. Instead, a so-called representative with an unknown identity would act on behalf of the labor camp. Family members were required to sign statements that claimed that the deaths had nothing to do with the labor camp, and they were urged to cremate the bodies as soon as possible. The labor camp claimed, "According to the government's regulations, we do not need to provide any compensation to the family members. A Falun Gong practitioner's death is worth nothing. Since it's not easy for family members to come over here, we will pay each family 2,000 Yuan RMB for the travel expenses and burial costs. Be aware that this is a special treatment for you." This is how they dealt with the death of Dafa practitioners! When family members argued with them, they said brazenly, "You can use any means to try to sue us."
As the truth has gradually become apparent, people have come to realize that the Wanjia Labor Camp has been imitating the infamous Masanjia Labor Camp. There, determined female Dafa practitioners were thrown into male prisoners' cells and were subjected to all kinds of inhumane torture. In trying to cover up the facts, the directors of the Wanjia Labor Camp show themselves to be very despicable.
After this incident, the directors showed no regret at all, but began to escalate the persecution of Dafa practitioners and redouble their efforts to brainwash all practitioners by July 20.
The dead practitioners whose identities are known:
Zhang Yulan was a 55-year-old practitioner from Mishan city. She went to Beijing to appeal in 1999 for the third time and was arrested soon thereafter. She was held in the first detention center for more than one month, after which she was sentenced to two years of labor "re-education" and was sent to the Wanjia Labor Camp. She was tortured to death on June 20 for her firm belief in Dafa. Rope marks were found on her neck and because of this the labor camp claimed that she, along with other practitioners "committed mass suicide by hanging themselves."
Shao Ying was a 33-year-old woman from Mishan City, where she worked at the Mishan Herd Bureau. In 1999, she was jailed in Mishan, her first detention center. Later, she was released after paying 6,000 Yuan. In the year 2000, she was once again detained. Because she refused to yield to the police, she was illegally sentenced to labor "re-education." She was tortured to death on June 20.
Zhao Yayun, a 54-year-old woman from Lequn Commune in Shuangcheng City, was taken away from her home in July of 2000. She was later jailed in Shuangcheng's second detention center. One month later she was transferred to the Wanjia Labor Camp because she did not cooperate with the police. She died on June 20, with injuries all over her body.
Li Xiuqin, a female from Lishu district, Jixi city, was a retired worker in the Lishu district grain depot. She was arrested because she went to Beijing to appeal in 1999. On October 2, 2000, she was sent to Jixi's second detention center. On December 26, 2000, she was sentenced to 2 years labor education and was sent to the Wanjia Labor Camp. She died on June 20. The vicious police said, "The higher authorities have said that beating Dafa practitioners to death counts as suicide. Do not identify the body and be sure to cremate locally." The police cremated her body without notifying her family members. The family received her ashes in a box.
Two more practitioners from Lishu district were tortured to death. While their ash boxes remain, detailed information on them has yet to be investigated.
Since the labor camp keeps close control of the news and some family members are concerned about further persecution, it is very difficult to carry out the investigation. We hope that persecuted people will wake up and come to understand that there is nothing to be afraid of. Those vicious people who are worse than beasts dare to do things that harm people and are not afraid of retribution. Why should we, people who uphold justice, be afraid of them?
When questioned about the cause of death, the labor camp answered, "They committed mass suicide by hanging themselves with ropes made of bed sheets." However, such a rewriting of the news suggests that the labor camp is trying to shirk responsibility by making excuses.
All the practitioners who have been persecuted in the labor camp know that the guards and criminals watch practitioners closely so as to prevent them from practicing Dafa exercises or studying Dafa. This occurs whether the practitioner is brainwashed or not. Some determined practitioners are even subject to surveillance 24 hours a day. Several dozen people watch in each team, plus there are guards and a monitor system on the night shift. It would be impossible for practitioners to find a time to commit mass suicide.
In order to prevent accidents, there are only beds in the cells. There is no way to find a place to hang a rope, not to mention a place that could be used to hang oneself to death.
After the incident, why would the labor camp block all news from leaking out if they were innocent?
How could these practitioners have committed suicide? Falun Gong teaches that killing is sinful, including killing oneself. If those practitioners were so determined in Dafa, how could they do something against the teachings of the Fa?
Committing suicide is merely an excuse the labor camp gives in order to cover up the facts. It is well known that in the last two years, the criminal gang led by Jiang Zemin has tortured many practitioners to death and then labeled the death "due to heart disease," or "suicide" so as to shirk responsibility.
We appeal to all UN human rights organization, all governments, and kind-hearted people: pay close attention to the safety and lives of the Falun Dafa practitioners ruthlessly being persecuted by Jiang Zemin's accomplices! Let's expose the evil, eliminate the wicked forces together, and stop the persecution of Falun Dafa as soon as possible.
We also sternly warn those persecutors of Dafa practitioners: evil deeds will receive retribution. It is reported that Harbin city is suffering from severe drought and high temperature. Those evil people who persecute Dafa practitioners will receive retribution for sure.
A kindly reminder to the world's people: do not assist the evil in doing bad deeds.
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Responsible Parties in the Wanjia Labor Camp, Harbin City:
The Director Shi Yingbai, Tel: 86-451-4101454-3309, Beeper: 97126-7856
The Leader of No. 7 Team, Wu Jinying, Tel: 86-451-4101454-3472
The Leader of No. 12 Team, Zhang Bo, Tel: 86-451-4101454-3471
Breaking News
For Immediate Release
15 Women Massacred in a Chinese Labor Camp for Practicing Falun Gong
Supporters Worldwide Condemn Jiang Zemins Brutal Policy
(San Francisco - July 3, 2001) At least 15 female Falun Gong practitioners were tortured to death at Wanjia Labor Camp in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province on or around June 20, 2001. Many others remain in serious condition as of this release.
According to reports, the officers from the labor camp attempted to control all news from leaking out of the camp. All staff and guards from Wanjia Labor Camp were not permitted to go home following the massacre; all the staff had to surrender their cell phones and pagers; telephone lines to the labor camp were cut to prevent any phone calls to the outside. Some information about this atrocity, however, has been reported to us.
Falun Gong supporters worldwide will gather at the local Chinese Embassies and Consulates to expose this crime and provide further information about death and severe torture cases occurring over the last month. These cases reveal an alarming pattern of unrestrained brutality that has arisen from pressure exerted by Jiang Zemins regime to "exterminate Falun Gong at all costs".
In just the last month, 35 Chinese citizens who practice Falun Gong were reported to have died in police custody or as a result of police torture.
We will gather at the Chinese consulate to send out an SOS rescue the Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China.
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What: Falun Gong supporters worldwide rally to condemn Jiangs recent massacre
Time: July 3, 2001, Tuesday, 2:00pm-3:00pm
Place: In front of the San Francisco Chinese Consulate (between Geary & Laguana)
Contacts: Sherry (510) 376-4084; Dean Tsaggaris (408) 205-1704
For more information, please see the Falun Dafa Information Center: www.faluninfo.net
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PRESS STATEMENT: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 15 Falun Gong Women Suddenly Dead from Torture at Wanjia Labor Camp
July 3, 2001Around June 20, 2001, at least 15 female Falun Gong practitioners died in a spate of violence and torture at the Wanjia Labor Camp in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. A number of others are said to be receiving emergency medical treatment. This information follows a June 30 report that the camps police had recently begun ordering female Falun Gong detainees into male prisoners cells for days on end. In those cells they undergo unimaginable mental and physical torture, including severe sexual abuse.
The persecution of Falun Gong by Jiang Zemins regime has sunk to new, horrifying depths.
So far we know the names of four of the women who died:
Zhang Yulan, 55 years old; Shao Ying, 33; Zhao Yayun, female, 54; and Li Xiuqin. All four died on June 20 from torture. We do not know the names of the rest, nor the details of their deaths, but the labor camp claimed that "they committed mass suicide by hanging themselves." This follows the routine and wholly incredible claims by authorities across China that Falun Gong practitioners deaths in custody resulted either from natural causes or suicide.
In a highly unusual move, the labor camp threw up a tight information blockade when the mass deaths came to light. They confiscated phones and pagers of employees, stopped all visits, and kept staff from leaving the facility. Yet the news has leaked out as family members are notified, and the recent upsurge in extreme abuse noted elsewhere in China has had devastating consequences here.
Li Xiuqin and at least two others were cremated before family could identify the bodies the family was left with only a box of ashes. Police said, "The higher authorities have said that beating [Falun] Dafa practitioners to death counts as suicide. Dont identify the body, and cremate locally."
Local authorities have become emboldened by such statements to attack Falun Gong practitioners in custody with greater violence. The pattern of sanctioned violence is escalating all over the country, with 35 deaths reported in June alone. In most every case the captors refuse family members who wish to see the body, and medical autopsies are blocked. The captors consistently display a cavalier and inhuman attitude towards mourning family members, saying, "You can go wherever you like to sue us."
As another example of the recent upsurge in violence, it was reported on the same day that these women died, police in Hubei province burned a male Falun Gong practitioner to death in public and declared to onlookers that it was self-immolation.
Reliable sources reported that, recently the public security department of Shuangcheng city, Heilongjiang province, made a plan: for those practitioners who refuse to renounce Falun Gong, they will use plastic bags to cover their noses and mouths to choke them to death.
Falun Gong representative Ms. Feng Yuan said, "From the beginning, this campaign against Falun Gong has been against the Chinese constitution, against international human rights agreements, and against all sense of human decency. These new deaths are cause for serious, serious concern."
We call on all kind-hearted people and institutions to offer urgent support as we seek to rescue the Falun Gong practitioners who are persecuted in China. Urgent action is needed desperately.
Monday July 2, 12:13 pm Eastern Time
- Press Conference in New York to Kick Off Historic March To Washington, D.C. - NY Speakers Include Supporters, Practitioners, Victims, and Family Members
NEW YORK, July 2 /PRNewswire/ -- A press conference is to be held by people who practice and support Falun Gong, on Tuesday, July 3, at the Chinese Consulate, 520 12th Avenue at 42nd Street, to kick off a historic 250-mile "SOS! Urgent: Rescue the Falun Gong Practitioners Persecuted in China" walk to Washington, D.C. The month-long trek seeks to rescue those persons imprisoned in China following the Communist regime's July 20, 1999, crackdown on Falun Gong.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010702/nym016.html
China's government has engaged in the brutal suppression of millions of people who practice Falun Gong, a traditional Chinese qigong practice similar in form to Tai-chi. Falun Gong is practiced peacefully worldwide, yet China's regime violently suppresses this freedom of expression. To date, at least 234 Falun Gong people have been killed in police custody, with 25 new deaths reported in the last month alone.
Walkers will leave from New York City, and proceed through Newark, N.J., Philadelphia, and Baltimore, before reaching Washington, D.C. Thousands of supporters are expected to join en route. The walk will culminate in Washington on Thursday, July 19, in a mass march from the Washington Monument to the Capitol, where a large rally will be held. The journey symbolizes the courageous, determined efforts of thousands who have demonstrated in China, and is an appeal for an immediate release of all in China who are jailed and imperiled for their practice of Falun Gong.
The press conference will consist of speeches from Falun Gong supporters, practitioners, victims of the persecution, and family members of those jailed or missing in China. Over 400 are expected.
WHEN: Tuesday, July 3rd, 2001, 10 A.M.
WHERE: Chinese Consulate, 520 12th Avenue, at 42nd Street
WHO: Falun Gong supporters and practitioners, including victims who have been tortured and family members of those jailed or missing
Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) is an ancient form of qigong, the practice of refining the body and mind through special exercises and meditation. In just eight years since its public introduction, Falun Dafa has grown to become the most popular form of qigong ever in Chinese history. Since being introduced to the general public in 1992, Falun Dafa has attracted tens of millions of people in more than 40 countries. Most major cities and universities in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe have English-speaking Falun Dafa practice groups.
SOURCE: Falun Dafa Information Center
Two dozen Falun Gong practitioners descended on Orlando City Hall Sunday morning to launch another round of protests against China's treatment of the group.
[...]
After they finished and listened to some speeches, eight members took to their bikes for Washington, D.C. Later this month, hundreds of members from across the world are meeting in Washington to condemn China's repression of Falun Gong.
"We need to end the killing," said Elly Xu, a Falun Gong member who lives in Orlando. Hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners, she said, have been killed in Chinese custody and thousands more detained in labor camps.
The Chinese government, which banned the movement in 1999, considers Falun Gong a political uprising waiting to happen -- even though the group calls itself spiritual and health-conscious, not political, in nature. Like Tai Chi, another Asian meditative art, Falun Gong practitioners gather in parks and open spaces to stretch and contemplate.
Standing in the shadows of downtown's office towers, the group went through its meditative paces as banners and flags snapped in the early morning silence. Among them was Amy Lee, 33, who escaped from China last year and spoke through an interpreter Sunday morning.
"It was very difficult to get out," said Lee, who has spent about two months in Chinese jails for her Falun Gong activities. "They [Jiang Zemin's regime ] are treating Falun Gong very badly. It is wrong."
She is wary of saying too much about herself as her young daughter remains in China.
Not yet 10 years old, Falun Gong has managed to attract millions of adherents and the wrath of mainland China. China banned the group in 1999, when it began arresting members who met and exercised in public squares.
"It's very bad what's happening in China with Falun Gong," said Cheryl Ellefson, of Amnesty International, who attended Sunday's event to support the group's cause.
[...]
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-or-falun070201.story?co ll=orl%2Dnews%2Dheadlines%2Dorange
June 29th, 2001
From: West Kingston, RI
Dear Protesting Practitioners,
I am writing to you this evening to commend all of you on your peaceful protest. The march from Boston to Washington is a powerful action that could only be undertaken by persons with great conviction and commitment to the cause of peace, equality, and human rights. While I am not a practitioner of Falun Dafa, I do believe that positive benefits result from its use and study. I am, however, a true believer in the philosophy and practice of nonviolence developed by Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Similar to Falun Dafa, their philosophy of nonviolence seeks to enlighten and morally improve individuals and social systems by creating positive change through reconciliation. Violence is only a quick fix for problems and conflicts, while nonviolent methods seek a greater and longer lasting impact through the rising of the moral consciousness of society.
Today, violence has a tight grip on our American culture as well as throughout the world. Marches and peaceful protests similar to yours during the American Civil Rights Movement greatly improved the social character of our country. Justice and equality were tangible goals for all people, particularly African Americans, as a result of the efforts made by the brave individuals who participated in that movement.
Your peaceful protest brings to light the violence and fear faced day to day by practitioners of Falun Dafa in China. I commend you on your undertaking and hope that your message reaches the general public, as well as those in power who can help bring an end to the suffering faced by practitioners. We need more people to stand up for what truly matters in order to create a moral and social character that our country can be proud of. Peace and human rights are integral parts of this character that can only be obtained by those as committed to this goal as you.
I wish each and every protester a safe and fulfilling pilgrimage. While I cannot walk with you physically during the weeks to come, I will be walking in spirit.
Good luck and safe travels.
Sincerely,
Signature
(An American friend)
[Minghui Net] Liu Shusong was a student from the Clinical Medicine Department of Hebei Medical College, class of 1993. He was an assistant of the Dafa (great law and universal principle) Study Group at that time on campus, and was admired by all. Minghui Net reported his death while in custody of the Politics and Security Department in Shijiazhuang City on March 15, 2001. I would like to recollect some stories from his life.
He had a very difficult childhood and appeared more mature and calm than his peers. He was always very diligent in Dafa cultivation, and other practitioners all liked to share their experiences with him. He divided us into several Fa study groups, and he would ride his bicycle to villages far away from the campus to promote Dafa every weekend. At that time our practice site was growing on a rather righteous track, and he played a very important role in fostering the righteous environment.
In July 1998, he was assigned to the hospital surgical department at Pinggu County in Beijing after graduation. One year later, July 20, 1999 arrived, (the start of the persecution of Falun Gong in China), and his work unit asked him to write a guarantee letter to not practice Falun Gong. Under pressure, he rather unwillingly handed in his guarantee letter. After returning to his dormitory, he cried out heartbrokenly and felt very guilty for what he had done to Teacher and Dafa. Therefore, he discarded all his attachments again, and with dignity asked for the return of his guarantee letter.
In January 2001, in order to follow the progression of Fa Rectification, we held a Fa conference with practitioners from other areas. We got together on a blizzardy day, some of us coming from several hundred miles away. Some practitioners brought their young infants, and some freed themselves from work and family obligations so they could all attend the Fa conference within the one day. When we sat together in the Fa conference, it felt like the old times of group Fa Study on campus had returned. At the Fa conference, we shared our experiences all afternoon and into the night around the topics of "The Immenseness of Fa" and "Teacher's Immense Compassion." During the Fa conference, everyone was shedding tears and our Xinxing [mind and heart nature] and understanding of the Fa [universal law and principles] were rapidly upgrading. After the Fa conference, everyone's realm of thoughts had elevated tremendously, and many practitioners started to step forward to validate Dafa afterwards.
Shusong deeply understood the importance of the Fa conference and thought that many practitioners were still unable to step forward for Dafa. He also came to believe that he should devote all of his time to Fa Rectification, so he quit his job and went to Shijiazhuang City, where he had obtained Dafa, to find other practitioners with which to share experiences. But before long, he was followed at the Shijiazhuang train station by a plainclothes student from the Hebei Police School and got caught afterwards. Many students in this Police School have been assigned as plainclothes police by the Security Department. Later, he died while in custody of the Politics and Security Department in Shijiazhuang City.
At the moment of learning the news, I felt extremely sad and by no means accepted this fact. I even dreamed about him once, and he looked happy and cheerful with a smile, the way he used to be. I asked him, "Are you not dead?" He said, "No, I am not." Therefore, for a very long time I believed he was still alive. However, Minghui Net kept posting news regarding his death, so I started to question my thoughts, and finally could not do anything but accept this grievous fact.
Some people heard from Shusong's parents regarding the mysterious image people witnessed while cremating Shusong's remains. According to the custom of northern China, firecrackers must be set off while cremating one's remains. When the firecracker was lit, it soared up into the air before the first sound was heard. It rose higher and higher, grew bigger and bigger, and turned into a big fireball. Then, some people saw the firecracker turn into a lotus pad. Some people saw a big Falun [Emblem of Falun Gong]. His parents, relatives and friends who are not practitioners all saw these phenomena happening in the daytime.
His father also said that he had dreamed about him once, and Shusong said, "I left the human world too hastily, but you need not feel too sad for me, because I am not really dead and it is not the real me who died." Then Shusong led his parents to a big city. Although his parents do not practice Falun Gong, they all knew that Dafa is good based upon what they have seen and heard, and they also call Shifu [Mr. Li] "Teacher," and do not have any thoughts of hatred or misunderstanding toward Dafa.
A practitioner who was once illegally imprisoned with Shusong also dreamed about him. In the dream, Shusong cried sadly and said, "I do not have a human body, and cannot do anything for Dafa any more." This practitioner said to him in the dream, "Do not cry, and we will do a couple of things for Dafa on your behalf every day." I did not understand this dream when I first heard about it and wondered why this practitioner said something like that. Now I have enlightened to two points to this dream: First, practitioners who still have their human bodies must spare no effort to "Assist Teacher in the Human World." Second, we must let the public know the true story of Shusong's death due to illegal persecution, expose the evil and encourage other practitioners to step forward for Dafa.
The Politics and Security Department in Shijiazhuang has committed countless crimes. We hope all practitioners, from Hebei Province to the rest of the world, send forth their righteous thoughts and help eliminate all evil beings. We would also like to seriously warn the wicked police in Shijiazhuang: discard all measures to persecute practitioners, and stop the persecution! Or when retribution comes, it will be too late for regrets!
June 26, 2001
[Minghui Net] The Wanjia Labor Camp in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province sent over 50 female Dafa practitioners who refused to write a statement denouncing Falun Dafa to different male prisoners' teams. The female practitioners were put into groups, 7 or 8 per group. Male guards and male prisoners watched them 24 hours each day. Some male guards frequently insulted the female practitioners with filthy words. The labor camp did not allow them to bring anything in and forced them to stand on the cement floor in thin clothes for as long as eight or nine days. During the daytime, they were only allowed to use the toilet three times and were forbidden to use the toilet at all for over 10 hours at night. The guards deprived Dafa practitioners of sleep and handcuffed them behind their backs to the front of beds, making them stand day and night. During those eight to nine days, the labor camp did not let them brush their teeth, change clothes or take a shower. For meals, they were given hard cakes made of animal fodder and radish soup. The guards and prisoners often beat them badly, leaving them with bloody noses, swollen faces and bruises everywhere on their bodies. Because of such a long period of psychological and physical abuse, some of them passed out and were sent to the hospital in a comatose state.
In team 8, the guards and prisoners hung up six female practitioners and beat them with sticks. Song Yusu was dunked into water and then pulled out. Wu Shulian was drenched and then shocked with electric batons. Cao Liandi was hung up, and she passed out. The other three who were hung up and beaten were Xie Jinxian, Wu Xinru, and X Shurong.
June 27, 2001 Section: METRO Page: B3
By RICHARD ESPINOZA The Kansas City Star: Nineteen months ago, Jian Tang left her home near St. Louis for a two-week vacation in southern China that led to a meeting with followers of the banned [group] Falun Gong. Police raided the apartment where the Falun Gong practitioners were meeting and then beat and arrested Tang and her friends, Tang said Tuesday at an area observance of the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. She spoke at a news conference at the Johnson County Central Resource Library in Overland Park. When Tang went on a hunger strike in jail, an official there ordered other prisoners to hold her down and force salt water into her stomach through a tube in her mouth, she said.
"My stomach hurt so much that I vomited constantly for a few hours. My throat hurt so much that I lost my voice for a few days," Tang said. "The next day, I was forced to work in a cell, making plastic flowers with shackles on my feet from morning until evening without resting."
Tang said she was released after 15 days, about four months into China's crackdown on Falun Gong. Its practitioners believe a series of exercises similar to yoga improves their health and lifts their spirits.
Gaixin (Sue) Jiang of Columbia told the audience of 25 at the library that Chinese police arrested her last year for unfurling a Falun Gong banner in Tiananmen Square and jailed her for 24 days. She thinks payment from her family saved her from physical torture.
Tang and Jiang continue to speak against the Chinese government's crackdown on Falun Gong. Later Tuesday, several people held a candlelight vigil against torture.
Kansas state Rep. Karen DiVita of Overland Park told the audience in the library that it was important to protest torture.
"We have an obligation to speak out, to put actions behind our words," DiVita said. "Words without action are like rain falling on a rock."
But action, she said, can bring change, like rainfall on fertile ground.
DiVita compared Falun Gong's call for followers to advocate truth, compassion and tolerance to Mahatma Gandhi's work in India.
"As resources become more scarce worldwide, the need for tolerance, the need for peace, the need for justice become more and more important," DiVita said. "Why should any government fear those who seek that kind of peace?"
An assistant to U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore of Kansas read the group a letter in which Moore said 245 Falun Gong practitioners had been killed in China and more than 1,000 had been sent to labor camps.
Although Moore voted for permanent normal trade relations with China, he joined other congressmen in expressing concern about human rights problems with China's president, the letter said. He also supported the nomination of Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi for the Nobel Peace Prize.
[Minghui Net] At present, Falun Dafa and its disciples are still being ruthlessly persecuted by the Jiang Zemin regime. According to Minghui Net, the number of practitioners who are tortured and beaten to death by police is rapidly rising, and their bodies are "being cremated immediately after death regardless of where they are from." There are numerous brainwashing classes set-up across the country from the central government to the local authorities, and from government departments to work units or neighborhoods. Every day Dafa practitioners are arrested and are subjected to this brainwashing. These practitioners are being arrested while clarifying the truth to people. In many places, almost all the imprisoned practitioners had engaged in truth-clarifying activities before being arrested, which caused a great loss to the progress of spreading the truth. This already bad situation worsened as the external environment deteriorated and because of the actions of people who mislead and interfered with Dafa disciples: those who have "enlightened" along an evil path and those who have been "reformed." In such a complicated environment, how practitioners in China can eliminate the evil and do better in clarifying the truth has become a critical issue.
While studying the Fa recently, I noticed that Teacher said, "The various correct states that you are displaying at this time in each and every regard, and how you handle things in all kinds of situations, are all being left for history. So they're both serious and crucial."[Teaching the Fa at the 2001 Canada Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference] "Fa-rectification is a Dafa disciple's mission." "Dafa disciples' performance in the human world is to be left for history." "Everything Dafa disciples are doing at present is creating the future..." ["What Are Supernormal Abilities"]
As a Dafa disciple, I realized that what Dafa disciples are doing at present is not only an issue of safeguarding the Fa and validating the Fa, but also, we are shouldering a historic mission and creating the future. It means that as particles of Dafa, every word we say and every thing we do are critically important, because any thoughts or behaviors not righteous enough will be taken advantage of by the evil to undermine Dafa. At this historic turning point between the old and new cosmos, for the beings created by Dafa, nothing could be more important, more serious, and more critical. Therefore, the kind of attitude we're taking in treating such a serious and critical thing is an extremely important issue. In their last desperate attempt, the remaining evil will use every opportunity to damage Dafa--they'll take advantage of even a slight weakness in our righteous thoughts.
Our Teacher's benevolence makes it possible for all beings in the cosmos to have the great honor of participating in Fa-rectification. Teacher said, "At present, humankind's every day is arranged according to Dafa's needs..." "...right now everything in the Three Realms exists for Dafa." ["What Are Supernormal Abilities"] We should cherish every day that is arranged by Teacher, and cherish this enormous opportunity that could not occur for countless ages. This is our Teacher's boundless compassion for all beings. It is also the right time for us to fulfill our vows made before history. There's no reason or excuse for us not to do so. Attachments and degenerated thoughts prevent us from stepping forward.
Teacher said in To All Students at the Nordic Fa Conference: "So in clarifying the truth, don't wait, don't rely on others, and don't just hope for changes in external factors. Every one of us is creating history for the future." "As long as something is good for Dafa, you should take the initiative to do it, take the initiative to work on it. Every person you come into contact with in society is someone to clarify the truth to, and what's manifest in clarifying the truth is Dafa disciples' mercy and salvation of the people of the world. I hope that every Dafa disciple will fully take initiative and fully play his role as a Dafa disciple." The more complicated and unstable the external environment is, the more we should not be restricted or restrained by the external elements. In turn, we should make full use of the external elements, changing the passive to the active, and create a new environment to clarify the truth in these hard times. The more complicated and unstable the external environment is, the more we should use our enthusiasm and take the initiative, the more we should use our rationality and wisdom given to us by Dafa to deal with everything as we see fit. Dafa has bestowed on us the power to do appropriate things. Practitioners at different levels can use this power freely instead of waiting and relying on others.
Otherwise, seemingly small problems caused by insufficient study of the Fa, unclear understandings of the Fa, the attachment of fear, self-satisfaction, blindly following others, carelessness, and inadequate calmness might become big omissions. The evil is taking advantage of the attachments of Dafa disciples, their fear, the remaining notions at their human surface, and their karma to persecute Dafa and Dafa disciples, bringing great loss to clarifying the truth. The evil forces are using all beings in their persecution of Dafa with the ultimate purpose of destroying those beings. Meanwhile, we expose the evil and clarify the truth in order to save those beings.
Some of the practitioners being arrested are just as Teacher pointed out in Dafa is Indestructible, "Some students aren't able to endure amidst the agony of the persecution, and have done what a Dafa disciple absolutely should not and cannot do." Among these practitioners, some are very regretful upon realizing their mistakes, and have thrown themselves into cultivation in Dafa again. They are doubling their efforts in clarifying the truth to redeem the losses they have brought to Dafa so that they can catch up with the Fa-rectification process.
However, some practitioners haven't attached enough importance to its severity, and haven't been able to issue a solemn statement to invalidate any of the words and deeds they said or did against Dafa, nor have they realized that they should step forward right away and throw themselves into Fa-rectification again. To a certain extent, some of them have even agreed with the evil in their minds and eventually "enlightened" along an evil path. Some of them have even helped the evil to damage and persecute Dafa. Teacher said: "Once a Dafa disciple has done what he shouldn't do, if he isn't able to truly realize its severity and redeem the losses he has brought to Dafa, everything and that millions of years' wait will be fulfilled according to the vows made before history." ["Dafa is Indestructible"]
I feel that we have the responsibility and duty to help those practitioners, to reveal the lies told to them by the evil, and to tell them the principles of Fa taught by Teacher so that they can realize their wrongdoings and join Fa-rectification again as soon as possible. One has to pay back the wrong deeds one has committed. If a Dafa practitioner cannot fulfill his vows in Fa-rectification, he is cheating the Supreme Buddha. The magnitude of sin he has committed is unimaginable.
From the aspect of everyday people, China is suffering a series of natural and man-made disasters. Teacher said in Dafa is Indestructible, "All of the natural and man-made disasters that have been happening in Mainland China are already warnings for the sins the beings there have committed against Dafa. If they don't come to realize it, then the real catastrophe(s) will begin." Therefore, I think that it is our responsibility to make the beings who have committed great sins against Dafa aware that "Good and evil will get its due reward and retribution." In order to help them realize their wrong deeds in time, it is our responsibility to tell them about all natural and man-made disasters that are warnings from heaven for the sins these beings have committed against Dafa; plus we should tell them that they should wake up to danger before it is too late, repent and be saved. As Dafa disciples, we can employ any means--we can write to the central Chinese government or government authorities at different levels or any relevant persons; we can phone them or send them email; we can distribute truth-clarifying materials to every household; we can post truth-clarifying materials on the streets and building corridors--any means that can be utilized in the human world, to clarify the truth and give people a chance to wake up.
As for the evil forces persecuting Dafa, we should eradicate them unwaveringly. To eradicate them is the purpose of Fa-rectification. Otherwise, they will persecute Dafa, Dafa disciples, and all sentient beings. Since Teacher has given us the supernormal abilities to eradicate the evil, we should bring these abilities into full play, displaying the complete mighty virtues of great practitioners in eliminating the evil with righteous thoughts. Teacher said in What Are Supernormal Abilities, "Actually, you can use your will to command those evil ones who have no human nature... The evil scoundrels will do whatever you have them do." We can use our supernormal abilities to stop the persecution of Dafa and Dafa disciples, to free all the practitioners being detained in the detention centers, labor camps, mental hospitals, brainwashing classes, etc. We can command the evil forces to treat themselves as they treat Dafa practitioners. As long as our thoughts and actions conform to the requirements of the Fa, the supernormal abilities will manifest themselves naturally because they are under the control of our thoughts. We should rectify all that is not righteous to meet the needs of Fa-rectification. If all the practitioners across the world can do so, our powerful righteous thoughts will definitely eradicate all evil.
Finally, for mutual encouragement, I want to share with you what Teacher said in Dafa is Indestructible, "A Dafa disciple completely opposes everything arranged by the evil old forces. Clarify the truth thoroughly, eliminate the evil with righteous thoughts, save all beings, and safeguard the Fa with determination, because you are a part of Dafa, indestructible; rectify all that is not righteous. Those who are "reformed" and those who are being saved can only be beings deceived by the evil. Those who are being eliminated are the evil beings and the evil old forces. Those who are reaching Consummation through all this are Dafa disciples; and through all this Dafa's mighty virtue is established."
July 1, 2001
[Minghui Net] In July, the arch-criminal persecuting Falun Dafa, Jiang Zemin, who has been named as one of the world's worst "Human Rights Scoundrels" by Amnesty International, will come to Moscow to have a hand in a series of activities organized by the International Olympic Committee, including the vote to decide the host city for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Russian Falun Dafa practitioners suggest that at 11:00PM (Moscow time) every evening from July 1st to July 17th, 2001, we send forth righteous thoughts together to eliminate all of the evil within the three realms that damages Dafa. We welcome all Falun Dafa practitioners who read this to join our efforts.
[Minghui Net]
1. [Zhucheng City, Shandong Province] The Unjust Actions of the Corrupt Policeman Cao Jinhui
In early May 2001, the corrupt policeman Cao Jinhui led over twenty policemen as they broke into Falun Dafa practitioner Li Xue's (pseudonym) home. The policemen searched for Falun Dafa practitioners that they could arrest and Falun Dafa related materials that they could confiscate. Li Xue used her wisdom and escaped while the policemen were busy searching the house. After noticing that Li Xue ran away, those policemen shifted their anger to the neighbors and surrounded the neighborhood. Without any legal sanction they began to search every house. They drove all the residents out of their houses and illegally ransacked all the houses in that area. One old lady was so frightened that she urinated in her trousers.
Li Xue's brother-in-law (he is not a Falun Dafa practitioner) sent her two-year-old child to the child's grandmother's house. The policemen discovered this and, because they couldn't find Li Xue, forcefully took her brother-in-law and her two-year-old child to the police station in order to threaten her family. After they took her brother-in-law to the police station, the policeman Cao Jinhui began to torture, beat, and shock him with an electric baton. The victim's current condition is still unknown to us. Later, they threatened and abused Li Xue's husband. They also illegally detained him for 24 hours.
2. [China] The Director of the Public Security Bureau Begs a Practitioner to Take a Look at His Illness
One day, the director of a local Public Security Bureau led a few policemen to arrest a practitioner who is a medical doctor. The practitioner sent out the righteous thought: "The Fa rectifies the cosmos, the evils are completely eliminated." Suddenly, the director felt severe pain in his abdomen. He hurriedly begged the practitioner, "Stop what you are doing, and please take a look at my illness. I can't bear the pain." The practitioner used this opportunity to promote Falun Dafa to him and he clarified the truth about Falun Dafa to him. The director nodded his head and said, "In fact we all know the truth. Actually, we do not want to do this [the persecution]. We simply have no other choice because we are ordered to do it." In the end, after "seeing the doctor," they left without arresting the practitioner.
3. [Changchun City, Jilin Province] Corrupt Officials Plan New Crimes
Recently, the Changchun city government ordered the local street offices to cooperate in forcing those practitioners who kept on practicing Falun Dafa to attend brainwashing classes. Since there are a lot of Falun Dafa banners and flyers posted in the streets, it ordered the street offices to trace the sources closely.
4. [Mengyin County, Shandong Province] A Degenerate Named Pan Yushan Brutally Beats Falun Dafa Practitioners
In mid May 2001, Organizing Committee Member Pan Yushan of the Tanbu Town, Mengyin County Government led some people to illegally search many practitioners' houses without any legal sanction or legitimate reason. They forcefully took about 20 practitioners away from their homes and detained three of them in the county's brainwashing class for ten days. The rest of the practitioners were detained in the yard of the town government. Pan Yushan personally ordered thugs like Zhang Minglei, Zhang Jiazhao, Zhao Jian, Tian Yongzhong, and Liu Zhen to beat the practitioners brutally. They knocked out two of practitioner Zhang Mingfa's teeth, beat practitioner Zhang Zhaocai to the point where he could not move his body, and beat practitioner Gong Fuliang until he was unconscious--at which time they poured cold water on him so that he would regain consciousness. The detained practitioners used their righteous thoughts to face the vicious people, and they used their lives to resist their illegal abuse. They went on a hunger strike for 5 days and finally they were released.
According to reliable sources, there are still more than ten practitioners detained in the town's brainwashing class. These practitioners went to Beijing to help rectify the Fa during the Spring Festival (January 24, 2001). There are about 6 or 7 practitioners still detained in the Mengyin County brainwashing class. The conditions they live in are very poor. We hope the detained practitioners can use their righteous minds to face the evil at all times, free themselves from the evil's control, and eradicate the evil.
5. [Guilin City Guangxi Province] The Police from Guilin City Sentence Practitioners to Labor Camps and Organize Illegal Brainwashing Classes
In February 2001, the Guilin City Police launched a city wide arrest of Falun Dafa practitioners. They illegally took practitioners from their homes, detained them, and fabricated charges in order to send them to labor camps.
Practitioners Jiang Shan, Lin Fangcheng, Gao Yunyan, and others were sentenced to 3 years of forced labor. Jiang Yu and others were sentenced to 2 years of forced labor.
They are the fifth group of practitioners being illegally sentenced to labor camps since July 20, 1999.
In March, those degenerate people again forced or deceived Li Li and 16 other practitioners into going to a brainwashing class. Because the practitioners didn't cooperate with them, the previously planned 60-person brainwashing class had only 17 practitioners in attendance.
6. [Shanghai] Police in Shanghai Illegally Monitor Falun Dafa Practitioners and Hold Illegal Brainwashing Classes
Recently, police in Shanghai intensified the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Many practitioners are monitored 24 hours a day and more practitioners were forced to attend the brainwashing classes.
In order to monitor the practitioners, especially those practitioners who can get on the internet at home or those key practitioners, police in Shanghai moved into the homes of the practitioners' neighbors, opened small holes in the walls of practitioners' homes and installed small cameras to monitor the practitioners 24 hours a day. This seriously violates the citizens' human rights.
During recent days, several practitioners were arrested for printing truth-clarifying materials.
Falun Dafa practitioner Yang Manning, female, 35 years old, was arrested while posting truth-clarifying materials in early 2001. After her arrest, her relatives were not allowed to visit her. She has a son who is attending elementary school.
7. [Beijing] Three Falun Dafa Practitioners Kidnapped
1. Practitioner Liu who is He Guilan's spouse, from Moshikou, Shijingshan District, Beijing was forcibly kidnapped by 30 people from the Public Security Department of Capital Steel Company and sent to the illegal brainwashing class held by the company.
2. Practitioner Jiang from Laoshan, Shijingshan District, Beijing was arrested while distributing truth-clarifying CDs.
3. Shen Junlan was illegally arrested by police from her work unit for no reason. Now, Shen Junlan's whereabouts are unknown.
8. [Lanzhou, Gansu Province] Falun Dafa Practitioners from Lanzhou University Kidnapped by Police at Lanzhou University
On June 2, 2001, four Falun Dafa practitioners from Lanzhou Univeristy, Tan Xiaorong (female), Duan Jinhui, Zhu Gaofeng, and Zhang Lumin were illegally arrested by the police in Dingxi, Gansu Province and detained in Dingxi Detention Center. The four practitioners were illegally detained until June 13 and then taken back by police from Lanzhou University. The police car drove into Lanzhou University, and then drove out; the whereabouts of the practitioners are unknown.
In addition, Ph.D. student Wang Hongmei (female), class of 1998, at the Department of History in Lanzhou University is still being illegally detained in Taoshuping Detention Center in Lanzhou, Gansu Province.
Once again, we solemnly warn Lanzhou University, do not continue to cooperate with the vicious police in Lanzhou to persecute the students at Lanzhou University. It is the heavenly principle that good will be awarded and bad will be punished.
The switchboard of Lanzhou University: 86-931-8911114
The office of Party Committee of Lanzhou University: 86-931-8912180
Chen Dewen, secretary of Party Committee of Lanzhou University: 86-931-8910180 (home)
The office of the principle of Lanzhou University: 86-931-8912126
Li Fashen, principle of Lanzhou Univeristy: 86-931-8911998 (home)
Police Station of Lanzhou University: 86-931-8911119
Security Division of Lanzhou University: 86-931-8912156
The office of the Youth League at Lanzhou University: 86-931-8912684
9. [Shuangcheng, Heilongjiang Province] The Lawless Officials Illegally Sentence 15 Falun Dafa Practitioners
In December 2000, during a short 20-day period, the lawless officials in Shuangcheng City illegally sentenced 15 Falun Dafa practitioners. Now, these practitioners are illegally detained in Pingfang Detention Center in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. The guards at the detention center use the prisoners to beat and abuse Falun Dafa practitioners. Some practitioners spit blood as a result of torture, some practitioners' eyes were injured, some had their ribs injured from the kicking, etc, and they all suffered persecution of different degrees.
The Falun Dafa practitioners in Shuangcheng City who are detained in Pingfang Detention Center are: Pan Mingzhen, Wang Dekui, Yue Baoxue, Tang Fengjun, Yan Jinhai, Liu Quanguo, Tong Wencheng, Li Honglu, Yue Baoqing, Zhao Guangxi, Du Wenju, He Zhigang, Zang Dianguo, Chen Yanhai, Gao Peifeng, etc.
We call on all the kindhearted people in the world to give us help and strive for the immediate release of the illegally detained Falun Dafa practitioners.
10. [Dongning County, Heilongjiang Province] The Criminal Records of Police from Dongning County
On May 29, 2001, police from the Political Security Section of the Public Security Bureau of Dongning County, in collaboration with the Police Station of Suiyang Town, illegally searched local Falun Gong practitioners' homes for Falun Gong books. They also detained and tortured Zhang Guiying, a Falun Gong practitioner.
The former director of Dongning County Public Security Bureau, Zhang Chengbin, instigated police and criminals held at the No. 1 Police Station to torture more than twenty Falun Gong practitioners using electric batons. Li Guizhe, Han Qingtao and other Falun Gong practitioners were all brutally tortured. After they were sent to the detention center, Cheng, a guard at the detention center, instructed other criminals to beat the practitioners again.
Under the instruction of Zhang Chengbin, Cheng directed the criminals to beat and torture Falun Gong practitioners. They didn't allow the family members to send anything to the illegally detained practitioners. Just before the spring festival, Cheng told criminals to viciously beat up Li Guizhe, Han Qingtao, Ma Yiming, as well as other practitioners.
Since July 20, 1999, Zhou Qinglin and Lin Xiaowei, policemen from the Political Security Section of Dongning County Public Security Bureau, had victimized, cursed, illegally sent dozens of practitioners to labor camps, illegally detained more than forty practitioners, and ransacked several practitioners' homes. They indiscriminately confiscated practitioners' money and property. They forged fake materials, evidence, and witnesses to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Lin always tricked practitioners with a kind face. Zhou extorted money from the practitioners' family members.
Ma Xiangguo, the party secretary of Suiyang Town, was even crueler against Falun Gong practitioners. He called practitioners "Anti-Revolutionary Elements" and threatened that he would severely punish them. He fined each practitioner 5,000 RMB Yuan [about US $600]. If the practitioners did not have that much money, they would be forced to borrow from someone; if they could not borrow, they would be forced to forfeit their house as a deposit. He confiscated practitioners' business licenses to cut off their source of income. Falun Gong practitioners Leng Chuanyu and Shen Jinxiang were sent to a labor camp for three years of forced labor.
Wicked individuals such as Zhang Chengbin, Zhou Qinglin, Lin Xiaowei, Cheng and Ma Xiangguo who persecute kind Falun Gong practitioners will receive retribution for their numerous crimes!
11. [Dongning County, Heilongjiang Province] Police Torture An Innocent 18 Year-old Girl
On May 29, 2001, police from the Political Security Section of Dongning County Public Security Bureau in collaboration with Suiyang Down Police Station surrounded the home of Zhang Min, a Falun Gong practitioner. They attempted to break into the house but failed. They then went to the high school where Zhang's daughter, Mao Zhipeng, an 18 years old girl, was a student. They removed her from her class and ordered Mao to open the door to her home so they could search the house. Mao refused to open the door. The director of Dongning County Public Security Bureau ordered police to forcibly break into the house. Police climbed over the wall and tried to break the door. Finally they broke the window and entered the house through the broken window. They searched all the desks and cabinets and found nothing.
Police failed to find Zhang Min or any Falun Gong materials. On the third day at 8am, when Mao Zhipeng was preparing for her college entrance exams, police went to her school again and brought Mao, now a hostage, to the Dongning Public Security Bureau. They alternated between intimidation and bribery tactics to persuade her. However, she told them nothing. Zhou Qinglin and Lin Xiaowei, the policemen interrogating Mao, cruelly slapped her across the face and kicked her...
Illegally interrogating and detaining an innocent high school student brings to light the deception of what Jiang Zemin, the "human rights scoundrel" (as referred to by Amnesty International), describes as "the best period of human rights in China."
Zhou Qinglin and Lin Xiaowei must suffer retribution for their brutality.
12. [Shandong Province] Practitioner Zhang Langui Disappears
Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Langui, a 37-year-old woman, went to Beijing to appeal on the fifth day after spring festival. She has since disappeared. Kind-hearted people, please pay close attention to this matter.
13. [Yinan County, Shandong Province] List of Names of Some Vicious People
Yu Shiying, an employee of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative in Sucun Town of Yinan County, is a malignant tumor hidden among practitioners. He joined the illegal brainwashing team, where he betrays and persecutes Dafa practitioners.
Gao Zizhu is an employee of the Real Estate Comprehensive Exploitation Company in Yinan County. Instigated by his manager, Ma Hongtao, he illegally placed practitioners under strict surveillance, following and watching them.
His home phone number is 86-539-3257057.
14. [Mengyin County, Shandong Province] Record of Criminals from Duozhuang Town
Li Xiufu, the Vice Secretary of the Party Committee of Duozhuang Town, is a chief director of the assailants who beat people.
Liu Xiangyu, the head of Duozhuang Town Judicial Office, is a chief director of the assailants who beat people.
Fang Simin, the Vice Head of Duozhuang Town Armed Forces Department, is an associated chief director of the assailants who beat people.
Wan Zengfa, (whose employment is unknown) from Duozhuang Town, is an assailant who beats people.
Du Zhongtai, the head of Duozhuang Town Police Station, is an assailant who beats people.
Zhang Shimin, the director of Duozhuang Town Police Station, is an assailant who beats people.
Chen Yuxin, the vice head of Duozhuang Town Police Station, is an assailant who beats people.
Zhang Bo, a policeman of Duozhuang Town Police Station, is an assailant who beats people.
Liu Naisheng, a member of the Joint Defense Team of Quanqiao Village, Duozhuang Town, is an assailant who beats people.
Liu Changping, from Houli Village, Duozhuang Town, is an assailant who beats people.
Liu Yuanjin, from Quanqiao Village, Duozhuang Town, is a director of beating up female practitioners.
Liu Changwei, from Waziping Village, Duozhuang Town, is an assailant who brutally beats female practitioners.
Bu Fanhai, an employee of the Land Cooperation of Duozhuang Town, is an assailant who beats people.
Xie Xiantang, from Dongduozhuang Village, Duozhuang Town, is an assailant who beats people.
15. [Dongning County, Heilongjiang Province] The criminal record of the vicious people from Suiyang Forestry Public Security Bureau
Yang Lianxi and Gao Derong, from Suiyang Public Security Bureau of Dongning County, Heilongjiang Province, are the chief criminals of persecuting Dafa practitioners. Dafa practitioner Wang Xiangjun was illegally sentenced to one year of forced labor re-education simply because he wrote a letter to the Public Security Bureau to declare he would persist in cultivating Dafa. Suiyang Forestry Public Security Bureau detained Dafa practitioner Sun Meiling, a resident of Baoding City, Hebei Province, in Suiyang more than a year. She was detained many times and illegally sentenced to one year of forced labor re-education.
The criminals from Suiyang Forestry Public Security Bureau Yang Lianxi and others must receive evil retribution.
16. [Dongning County, Heilongjiang Province] Wang Hongwei, from Suiyang Town Police Station, Plans to Collude with Underworld Gangs to Murder Dafa Practitioners
In the first ten-day period of June this year, when he was unable to arrest Zhangmin, who was forced to wander about destitute, the vice head of Suiyang Town Police Station of Dongning County, Heilongjiang Province, Wang Hongwei threatened ferociously, "There is no policy dealing with Falun Gong yet from above. If there is, I'll ask the underworld gangs to remove these key Falun Gong practitioners."
17. [Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province] Cholera Appears in Zhanjiang City
After the continuous rainstorm attack recently, cholera appeared in the Zhanjiang area. It is said that it appeared first in Xiashan Industrial and Agricultural Market. Several dozen patients are hospitalized in the infection ward of an affiliated hospital of Guangdong Medical College. Cholera also appeared on the main campus of Zhanjiang Ocean University, in which Dafa practitioners were brutally persecuted. It's said that none of the students in this university were allowed to eat outside the campus.
Do not take the warning from Gods as natural phenomena! Good will be rewarded with good, and evil with evil. To tolerate, intentionally or not, the vicious people persecuting Falun Gong is actually committing a crime. All Dafa practitioners from Zhanjiang City take this opportunity to warn those vicious people who persecute Dafa practitioners: You must immediately and unconditionally release all the innocent Dafa practitioners who are still being detained; otherwise you will meet with due retribution right away!
[Minghui Net]
1. Please Teach Me the Falun Gong Exercises.
A Dafa practitioner was resting outdoors in the employee resident complex of a company in Northern China. A colleague came over and asked, "Could you please teach me the Falun Gong exercises? I heard that you haven't been ill or taken any medicine for five years. You are so healthy!" "OK, let's come back to my home and I'll teach you," said the practitioner. Another colleague also asked, "Can I join you?"
2. Please Take These Cards and Write "Falun Dafa is Great" on Them
After a company official election, many blank ballots made from fine quality red paper were not used. The head of the company approached a Dafa practitioner and said, "You may find these cards useful. I suggest that you write 'Falun Dafa is Great' on them. Flyers like these are seen everywhere on the streets." The practitioner gratefully accepted the cards and said, "Thank you!"
3. After All, There are People Who Uphold Justice, and They Helped Me Appeal on the Internet
After the Internet published the persecution story of a Dafa practitioner in Northern China, some local policemen paid an angry visit to this practitioner and questioned, "How did you get on the Internet?" The practitioner answered, "I have no idea, since I don't know how to use the computer." The police asked, "To whom have you told your story?" "Many. I told it to whomever I saw and wherever I went. Did I exaggerate? Didn't you torture me like that?" the practitioner said to a policeman who personally participated in the torture. "The government does not help the people, nor do they allow people to appeal to them. They don't even want people to speak out the truth. I have no choice but to speak out, tell my own experience and let the people be the judge. After all, there are still people who uphold justice, and they helped me to appeal on the Internet. I have to thank them." After hearing this, the police were speechless and left.
4. A Resident: "Don't You Want to Live? How Dare You Tear This Down!"
Dafa truth-clarifying flyers were posted in many locations in a residential section. A malicious person became fearful and tried to remove the flyers. Seeing this, a citizen, a non-practitioner, yelled, "Don't you want to live? How dare you tear those down?" Hearing this, the ungodly person was too frightened to touch the flyers and left quietly.
May 31st, 20001
I obtained Falun Dafa in January 1998 and have gained infinitely both physically and psychologically from the practice. I was one "whose attachments have driven them to follow those [evil] people," as described by Master in the article "Deter Interference." I was even a major influence among those who sought to do damage to Falun Dafa. Because of my strong attachments, I enlightened along an evil path and committed a series of deeds which deviated from, interfered with, and damaged Falun Dafa, causing a loss for which it is impossible to make up. I feel great regret and apologize sincerely to our compassionate Master and to Falun Dafa.
During the Hong Kong Incident, I participated in organizing the evil press conference, the gathering on May 7th, 2000 and the parade on May 11th, 2000. I helped the vile person organize these events and set up the website. I wrote a series of articles from my evil awakening, and gave a lot of speeches intended to damage Falun Dafa to newspapers, radio stations and television stations, including the BBC. Additionally, I purchased several thousand Falun Dafa books in order for that vile person to set up a book exhibition. I played a major role in the "Hong Kong Incident of Jumping Off A Building," and the "Hong Kong Incident of XXX Breaking the Customs." I also participated in activities organized to harass the temples in Mount Dayu in Hong Kong, causing a very bad effect on the people there. I provided a relatively large sum of money for the Hong Kong Incident. I was a personal witness to the collaboration between that vile person in Hong Kong and a secret agent dispatched by the Tianjin Public Security Bureau. I contacted them using a single phrase and was manipulated by them. Being attached to fame, I mislead the public and undermined the Fa. Because I thought highly of myself, I incurred demonic interference from my own mind and was manipulated by demons into accepting so-called "higher Fa principles." I actively recognized that vile person as my master, and engaged in influencing other students with my twisted understanding. Using email, I sent out a large number of that vile person's black articles and my own black articles to many places around the world . I even took off Master's Fa photo and replaced it with some evil stuff. I was not up to being a Falun Dafa disciple and even committed a great sin, which was unforgivable. My actions were a complete deviation from Falun Dafa. I was finally persecuted by the evil, and faced becoming neither a human being nor a ghost. I was in great agony.
After getting out of the Hong Kong Incident, I couldn't genuinely examine myself from the inside, which made me incapable of treating tribulations and trials using righteous thoughts. Instead I pursued externally, taking another wrong step and almost repeating the failure of the Hong Kong Incident. Driven by attachments, I went to India. This was done in the name of spreading the Fa, but actually I was again being manipulated by demons. I didn't consider the real situation in India, nor did I listen to the dissuasion of Fo Xue Hui (Falun Dafa Association) and other students and thus caused interference to Falun Dafa.
After coming back from India, I did a great deal of painful thinking and began to genuinely look inward to examine myself. I felt deep regret for everything I did and tried to deeply dig out my fundamental attachments. The reason that I came to this situation is completely because I didn't "genuinely cultivate" and didn't regard the Fa as teacher. As Master said, "It's simply that these people are too irrational and don't know to treasure Dafa and the opportunity to practice cultivation." Recalling all of this, I feel chilled and greatly shaken. I would be a ghost in hell without Master's great compassion toward all living beings.
Now I solemnly declare my words and deeds against Falun Dafa to be void. I completely break away from old evils and completely get rid of all the impure distorted things. At the same time, I solemnly apologize to Hong Kong citizens. All my extreme words and deeds, which didn't comply with Falun Dafa, had nothing to do with Falun Dafa. They did not conform to the universal characteristic of "Truth, Compassion and Forbearance." I am determined to double my efforts in order to make up for my mistakes, to "follow teacher closely and steadfastly cultivate Dafa," to keep up with the Fa-Rectification process, to advance further even more steadfastly, and to become a qualified Dafa disciple.
Qian Zhizheng, Student in California, USA
[Minghui Net] The following headline news was published in the Sichuan Daily on June 24, 2001: Since last winter and this spring, the drought in both seasons has affected 73 counties. At the beginning of this summer, another 66 counties have experienced continuous high temperatures and little rainfall. This is the most serious attack of drought since 1994. Some areas have had continuous drought for more than 200 days. To date, there are only 3.6 billion cubic meters of stored water in various water conservancies; the water storage level in most reservoirs has been under the warning level, and the storage volume is 900 million cubic meters less than that of the same period last year. Among 457,000 weirs across the whole province, more than 400,000 are dried up and the bottoms can be seen. The critical drought has caused some areas, especially the water-short villages in the highlands, to experience serious lack of drinking water for both human beings and animals. Six towns, 22 cities and 568 villages, 3.5 million people and 3.6 million animals are having difficulty getting drinking water. It is known that in addition to the large decrease in the production of crops, the aridity has also resulted in the inability of most spring-planted crops to grow. The statistics as of the end of May show that the area in which spring-planted crops cannot be grown due to the lack of nutrition in dry land and the lack of water in paddy fields has reached 45.6 million acres. According to the statistics of the civil administration department, the drought has caused lack of food for 17.42 million people. Among these people, 6,624,800 lack both food and water. Suffering from the drought, more than 3000 industrial factories have stopped or almost stopped production due to the water shortage.
Actually, no "natural" or man-made disaster is coincidental. The authorities should manage the area under administration with morality and thus bring good fortune to the people. On the contrary, doing bad deeds will not only cause one to receive retribution, but also bring disasters to the people. The authorities in Sichuan Province are the true followers and hatchet men of Jiang Zemin's gangs in persecuting Falun Gong.
The Sichuan police started massively arresting Falun Gong practitioners on February 5, 2001. All the practitioners who have expressed their determination to cultivate Falun Dafa have been sent to labor camps for long-term detention. The Party leader of Sichuan Province, the brother-in-law of Zeng Qinghong [head of the Political and Legal Committee of the Party, who is in charge of the persecution in the whole country], Zhou Yongkang, has personally directed the tortures on site, and carried out the brutal policy to implicate others in the abuse. "If parents practice, lay off the children; if children practice, sack the parents. Stop paying their pension and break off their financial resources." To date there have been 11 Dafa practitioners murdered by the authorities.
Although the drought in Sichuan is very serious, the punishment from heaven has just started. To stay away from these disasters and not receive retribution, you must immediately stop the persecution against Falun Gong and treat Falun Gong practitioners with kindness. Only by doing so can you bring blessings to yourself and your family.
This photo shows a family's 40 cattle shed blown down by the wind.
At 8 o'clock, June 26, a force 8 wind accompanied by torrential rain suddenly attacked three counties (Pinggu, Shunyi and Miyun) in the suburbs of Beijing, causing heavy losses to the local economy.
As reported by Beijing Youth, the meteorological record of that night released by the Pinggu meteorological station indicated that the rain measured 17.2 millimeters, and the average force of the wind was 8th degree, with the highest gust at 11th degree. These were the highest recorded wind gusts since the meteorological station was built in 1954. This unprecedented heavy wind hit more than 33.5 thousand mu (Chinese unit of area, about 2.2 thousand acres) of fruit trees, causing 20%-30% of the fruit to be blown off and thousands of trees to be damaged. The loss of fruit will be as high as 9 million kilograms. Moreover, 13.2 thousand trees between the fields and roads, as well as 216 electrical poles, fell in the wind, and 2,005 houses were damaged by the heavy wind and rain. The estimated area of damaged vegetables was 6,200 mu.
This wind was the roaring of the heavens over the bestial conduct of the Beijing policemen who have wantonly abused female Falun Gong practitioners. The force 8 heavy wind is a signal of retribution for all the crimes of the beasts in human clothing and a warning to all the ignorant people: "If they don't come to realize it, then the real catastrophe(s) will begin." (Dafa is Indestructible)
Greetings, Teacher!
Greetings, My fellow practitioners!
I have been practicing Falun Dafa for almost six years, since July of 1995. This is the ninth year since Teacher imparted Dafa to offer people salvation and rectify the cosmos. During these nine years, Teacher has born incredible tribulations and sufferings. Dafa practitioners have also shown great benevolence, especially in the last two years of tribulations imposed by the evil forces, and have established unparalleled mighty virtue for the Fa and Dafa disciples.
The fast speed of Fa rectification is beyond the imagination of everyday people. Teacher said, "Dafa disciples' doing Fa-rectification has no precedent in history." Dafa disciples sending out righteous thoughts together three times is an unprecedented great deed as well as an honor to us disciples. It is because the Fa by which we cultivate is so vast and Teacher's benevolence so boundless, that we are allowed to participate in Fa rectification. This is the first time in the history of cultivation. Although we might not see a reflection in this dimension, the power of Dafa disciples' righteous thoughts eclipsed the sum of all nuclear weapons.
Because I am always busy with work and don't have a regular schedule, I couldn't get together with other practitioners in sending out righteous thoughts. But I didn't lag behind. Whenever I had some spare time, even one or two minutes, I would send out righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil. Today, most of the evil beings have been eliminated. But there are still a limited number of stronger ones who survived. There are also those who escaped to other dimensions.
On a stormy night in June, I was listening to Teacher's lectures. Soon, the impure thoughts in my mind were eliminated. Consequently, I entered the state of eliminating the evil. My Primordial Spirit flew out of my body and entered a dimension within the Three Realms. It was a dimension slightly better than what we have on the earth. Without any source of light, the sky was bright, studded with stars. I myself became a warrior in ancient China, wearing a golden helmet and armor, and I was extremely tall. There was a huge sword in my hand evolved from two Law wheels (Falun).
The dark mountains far away started to move. They grew bigger and bigger. Gradually it became clear to me. They were not mountains at all, but several huge black caterpillars. They looked extremely ugly, with mouths widely open, as if wanting to tear me into pieces. The hairs on their bodies were sharp, with venomous fluids spewing out. They were getting closer and closer. The three caterpillars in the front hunched their backs and showered the venomous arrows of their hairs to me. Before I had time to think, the Falun sword in my hand drew a huge Falun in front of me and the venomous arrows were diminished. The caterpillars got furious. They put up their heads and sprayed venomous liquid on me, yet it was reduced to water by Falun. Before they had attacked again, I swung the sword and cut them into pieces. In a while, they all evaporated.
A gigantic demon in the shape of an egg came at me. It was so big that I couldn't even see whether it had a head on top of the egg. It had no feet, but jumped forward like a sparrow. At the belly of the egg, there was a hole, shooting out fire and orange light on me. The light ray broke at my sword. A Falun flew out of the sword and chopped at the egg from the upper left down to the lower right part of its body, and I cut it from the upper right part. Under the two attacks, the egg exploded. It disappeared in a flash.
Suddenly, the ground under my feet started shaking. An alien appeared in front of me. It was a figure in a cartoon I used to watch as a child. It was the kind that admired violence and often fought. Everyday people have no idea that aliens really exist in other dimensions. In order to control everyday people, they manipulate morally corrupt cartoonists to bring them into the human world and focus their attacks on children. Their purpose is to infiltrate their ideas into human beings at an early age and fabricate a layer of their substance in human bodies. Those addicted to computer games are completely under their control. The alien being is called the so-called "transformable Vajra" (or transformable JinGang). From the name given to it we can see that the evil will not give up any opportunity to smear Buddha. The moment I saw that it was much taller than me, my body became tall. It tried to punch me, but I parried its punch. It hit the ground and left a large pit. The surrounding crust of the earth was squeezed and rose up, forming several mountains, some even higher than Mount Everest. Actually, that was how some mountains on the earth were formed. I turned around and hit the waist of the alien with my sword. It was cut into two pieces but still it wouldn't give up. Two columns of deadly light were emitted from its eyes. In a split second, the Falun sword became two law wheels, blocking the light. At the same time, they emitted a yellow light to cover the alien. It was turned into a flare and dispersed.
It was quiet again. But behind the quietness, there was an atmosphere of killing and depression. The sky was still bright. Stars began to blink. I saw some red stuff appear from the sky and the earth all around me. It seemed like they were types of red worms, countless in number and extremely long. They were surrounding me. When they got closer, I was shocked to realize what they were. It was something I had always been familiar with: the double helix of DNA. Suddenly, I realized that the original lives on the earth did not contain DNA. It was something imposed on deformed human beings by extra-terrestrial beings. Hidden in the long chains was the secret of extra-terrestrial beings -- to take over human bodies and escape from the final judgement. Human beings, however, were instructed by the so-called scientists to take DNA as the basic construction unit of our lives, even a factor determining everything in life. In the process of rapid deformation and corruption of human beings, the extra-terrestrial beings have incorporated a self-duplication mechanism into the bodies of human beings so that DNA will be duplicated and passed on to human off-springs to control human beings. In recent years, some people with a devil's mind have been enthusiastic in cloning animals, or even human. They are the representatives of the corrupt beings in other dimensions. Teacher said when he gave a lecture in May 1999, "Gods will not place a Primordial Spirit inside a cloned being because it is created by human beings. Gods will certainly not recognize it. What will happen then? An extraterrestrial will break through at this weak point and place itself as the Primordial Spirit of that being." [unofficial translation of Lecture at the Fa-Conference in Canada (Toronto, May 23, 1999)] It is the same with the cloned animals. Their spirits are all extra-terrestrial beings. The famous sheep Dolly has a spirit of an octopus-like ET. The slowly spiraling DNA's surrounding me had no weapons. But their intent was clear to me. They were relying on their large numbers to bind and suffocate me. The moment they were about to reach me, countless Falun flew out of my sword and formed a transparent shell around my body. Numerous law wheels flew towards the double-helix structures. Falun moved swiftly and dissected the double-helix structures. Wherever the Falun passed, the demons were deprived of power. Later, Falun all over the sky cut the endlessly long demon into small pieces and turned them into a heavy rain.
There seemed to be a shooting star flying towards me at high speed. I stood there, with a pure and concentrated mind. Soon, the demon came closer. I saw that it had only a head, wrapped in a mask similar to the helmet of an astronaut. Its face bore a resemblance to a human face, covered with lines and wrinkles, and was gray like a brain. Its eyes were red. It had a ferocious and horrible expression. On top of its helmet, there was a heart-shaped item, just like the pendant on a necklace. Everyday people on the earth usually take it as a symbol of love. But no one knows that it is also something imposed on the human world by extra-terrestrial beings. In their world, it is an obscene symbol. They have been very happy seeing the promiscuity and incest in the human world. This demon here was desperate, wanting to kill me and die along with me. I stood motionless till it came even closer. From the center of my chest, at the position of Tanzhong acupuncture point, flew out a yellow arrow. It flew slowly towards the demon, waiting for its attack. In a split second the heart-shaped item of the demon bumped into my super power and vaporized into a mass, with an obscure outline. Its speed was drastically reduced. The mass of vapor grew thinner and thinner as it rose up till it became original qi.
I came to a clearing with no grass. Suddenly, I was carried from the ground by a lotus, floating in the sky, and sitting with legs crossed. When I looked down, I saw lightening and fire coming from where I stood. A plant grew out. Its leaves were like daggers, the edge of which was sharp and hard as steel and iron. If it were not for the lotus, I would have been stabbed. I cut it down with my sword. The demon immediately shrank. Some of its leaves and stem fell to the earth and turned into coal. Other parts turned into oil.
After a few hours, I came back, exhausted and even shaking a little bit. In retrospect I recalled what messages the demons had sent out to me when they were eliminated. They wanted revenge. I understand how frightened they were about the Fa rectification by the Teacher and that the remaining demons in all dimensions were gathering all of their strength for a desperate struggle. Some of their revenge was reflected in our dimension, too.
The next morning when I was going to work, I found a hole in two tires of my car. I smiled at it. I had no time to repair the tires, so I drove on the flat tires to a gas station, refilled the tires and drove 20 miles to my work place. When I arrived, there seemed to be no problems with the tires at all. But in the evening when I finished work, the tires had gone flat again. What a weak and useless revenge! The evil forces are crazy and stupid. They themselves know clearly that they will be eliminated in the end. What they don't know is that I am ready to give out everything for Teacher and Dafa, even my life. Meanwhile I know perfectly that what I have done or seen is nothing but a split second in the boundless Fa. I will not use human mentality to think about this.
It is important for Dafa disciples to take every step well and keep righteous thoughts in our minds, especially at this critical moment in history. As long as we do well, the evil will be eliminated completely in the near future. In fact, Teacher is doing everything and bearing everything. All Teacher wants is the pure thoughts we have.
We come from the ancient past to fulfill our sacred vows. Teacher said, "As far as your own cultivation goes, you've already gone through the course of cultivation. You are beings who are being established for Dafa. The last leg of your journey is your elevation to your own original and highest position." ["Teaching the Fa at the 2001 Canada Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference"] Teacher has used the most original and beautiful things to perfect the cosmos. My fellow practitioners, let's make diligent progress and finish what is left in our cultivation practice in assisting Teacher in the Fa rectification.
The above is my personal opinion. Your comments and corrections are most welcome.
I am a practitioner from Minnesota, and I will be nine years old in August this year. I want to tell our great benevolent Teacher and all the practitioners my cultivation experience.
My Mom, Dad and I began to learn Falun Dafa in October 1998. I was 6 years old at the time. I have been cultivating for more than two and a half years. Since the beginning, I have always gone with my Mom and Dad whenever they went to study the Fa (universal law and principles), practice and spread Dafa. I was not so serious at first. Most of the time I was playing around. Sometimes I sat and listened. Although I didn't know the meaning of some of the Chinese words, I understood what Xiaoye (eliminating the karma) was and what attachments were.
I have been to many Falun Dafa conferences and met our great benevolent Teacher four times. At the Chicago conference in 1999 Teacher Li corrected my movements when I was practicing in a park where we had a big group practice one morning. I felt so glad and lucky. On the way back to Minnesota, I suddenly heard Teacher Li's voice when I was lying on my Mom's lap. This is roughly the sentence I heard: You are not going to get where you want to go if you are always attached to something; you are not going to get what you want if you are always attached to something; good things will never come to you if you are always attached to something.
After learning Dafa I got to know what this bad thing was that should be eliminated.
One time after cultivating for four months, I had a high fever for two days. I knew it was eliminating karma, so whenever my Mom and Dad said I was having a fever, I always told them seriously that this was not a fever, it was eliminating karma. When I heard my Mom and Dad and other practitioners talking about whether I should take medicine or not, I cried and told them this is not the problem of a child. I also knew that I should tolerate the pain when I felt uncomfortable.
Sometimes at school other kids were not nice to me, but I never blamed them; instead I thanked them in my heart.
One time at school, two of my friends wrote some bad words on a piece of paper and wanted to put it in someone's backpack. They wanted me to join them but I didn't. I told them this was not a good idea. I knew this was hurting others.
I used to watch TV a lot. I know it is an attachment, so I've improved myself already. I don't watch TV much now, though sometimes I still fall back into old habits. Mom told me there were many bad things on TV that could harm you if you learn them. Then I turned off the TV right way. I found I am not so attached to it anymore.
I always like to play, but it is not good if I am too attached to it. I try to do my homework first and then play. I know I am not doing so well on this point. I will go on to improve myself to be a better practitioner.
I have gradually understood that a good practitioner should read Dafa, practice the exercises and cultivate xinxing (mind and heart nature). I read Zhuan Falun every morning and join the group practice sometimes. I also like handing out Dafa materials when other practitioners are practicing in the park. I don't feel embarrassed or afraid of other people laughing at me anymore because I know embarrassment is an attachment. It is a very serious and sacred matter to help Teacher rectify the Fa and save people. How could I have these kinds of thoughts?
One time Mom said my uncle said some bad words about our Teacher. I told Mom we should ask him what Zhen, Shan, Ren (Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance) is, then ask him if Zhen-Shan-Ren is good or bad. If Zhen-Shan-Ren is good, then Falun Dafa, which teaches Zhen-Shan-Ren is good, and the practitioners who believe in Zhen-Shan-Ren are good.
Recently, each practitioner is sending out righteous thoughts to eliminate evil. I am doing so too. I sometimes say in my heart "Fa Zheng Qian Kun, Xie E Quan Mie"(The Fa Rectifies the cosmos, The evil is completely eliminated) in the morning and at school. I participated every time with all the practitioners in sending forth righteous thoughts at the same time. One of them was in the early morning. I asked Mom to wake me up before it happened. I am very glad that I can help our Teacher rectify the Fa and eliminate evil. Thank you Teacher Li! Thank you everyone!
July 2, 2001
In mid-June, 2001, I woke up one morning with practically no voice and a very large cough. "A good tribulation!" I thought. And settled in to "endure." During previous tribulations, I'd always just thought of paying back my karma -- relating everything to past conflicts and past lives. Two years ago, I was fortunate enough to personally relay an experience to Master Li, saying that a situation seemed to be reversed from what I'd experienced a couple of hundred years ago. "This is different." he replied. It wasn't until my laryngitis didn't go away after a week, that I began to think that perhaps this was also different.
For more than twenty-five years, I was a broadcast announcer. My voice was my job. I was proud of being able to use it in powerful ways -- proud of my ability to manipulate people and situations through my voice. It was a shock to suddenly lose that power. It was humbling to see people laugh when I squeaked a response to a question. It was interesting not to be able to whip back with a quick reply in a conversation, or when I saw something happening where I would normally intervene in some way. And I began to better understand the requirement that practitioners should watch their speech. I began to see how much energy I expend in talking, and how many times it might be better if I were to remain silent instead.
And then I began to think of the practitioners in China who have 'lost their voice.' No one hears their anguished cries, except the prison guards and prisoners. And I could feel the pain of their imposed silence. And it strengthened my resolve to be a voice for them and to let my voice be heard for them. And with that resolve, my own sound began to return.
"I will use various means to expose your deeply-concealed attachments and get rid of them." wrote Master Li in his article, Digging Out the Roots. Now, during Fa rectification, it seems as if he is going further and allowing us, through our own personal tribulations, to see how we can better understand, and therefore work harder for the process of rectification.
The above is my current understanding and is open for correction.
A western practitioner in Canada
On May 23, 2001, European parliamentarian (the Liberal Party) Cecilia Malmstr m and Member of the Swedish Parliament (the Liberal Party) Helena Bergholz wrote an open letter to the members of the Swedish IOC. The letter was published in "Aftonbladet", one of the major evening newspapers in Sweden June 10 2001.
The letter said, "The Olympic Games, where athletes from all the countries of the world are to compete on equal terms, have long been said to be a symbol of peace and co-operation between nations. This has been said despite the fact that more than half of the countries that participate in the Olympic Games are heavy-handed dictatorships which despise both democracy and human rights. Against this background it is particularly important that an organization such as the IOC actively promotes the idea behind the Olympiads, namely that of peace, ethics and respect for human dignity."
It continued, "The People s Republic of China is one the world's last remaining [party' name omitted] dictatorships."
The letter mentioned, "The persecution of practitioners of the meditation form, Falun Gong, is in full progress and thousands of innocent practitioners have been arrested and sent to labour camps and mental hospitals."
"As a way of striking a blow for the basic idea of the Olympic Games, the IOC should also consider the way in which a country lives up to the UN's declaration of human rights when the selection is made. A requirement of this sort from the Olympic movement could serve as an important means of bringing pressure to bear on the development towards increased democracy and respect for human rights around the world. China can certainly manage to arrange a Games of high quality, but the country could not, under present conditions, manage a human rights criterion."
The letter also said, "A decision to hold the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing would be a violation of the idea of the Olympic Games itself, in so much as that we risk legitimizing the oppression and persecution of the Chinese dictatorship. Unfortunately, an Olympic Games in Beijing would very likely also risk reducing the pressure on China to alter the politics which it has conducted for more than fifty years."
The letter concluded, "The decision, as to where the 2008 Olympic Games will be held, will be made on 13 July. The IOC then has the opportunity to show that it stands for the regulation which was approved only a couple of years ago and which centres on human dignity and respect for ethical principles. Therefore, we would like to urge the Swedish members to vote against an Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008."
I have just been browsing through the official Olympic website with a great deal of interest. I was particularly interested in the marketing campaign "Celebrating Humanity," the IOC Code of Ethics, and the Olympic Charter.
The IOC Code of Ethics II.6 states that: The Olympic parties must not be involved with firms or persons whose activity is inconsistent with the principles set out in the Olympic Charter and the present Code.
It then occurred to me, when looking at the list of candidate cities for the 2008 Olympic Games, how Beijing's application will be considered when the horrific human rights record of the China Communist Party (CCP) in China is compared to the noble standards of the Olympic Charter and Code of Ethics. If the recent accounts about China's human rights record are true (for example Amnesty International's 10-year update on torture in China, and the recent US report regarding human rights abuses in China), it seems that the CCP blatantly defies the Code of Ethics on a number of points (particularly in Section I, Dignity -- the very first point for example, Safeguarding the dignity of the individual is a fundamental requirement of Olympism).
I have been closely following the vicious abuse of Falun Gong adherents in China, and I am also aware of the CCP's discrimination against Catholics, Protestants, and other Christian groups, the Tibetan monks and pro-democracy supporters. There are so many examples of blatant discrimination by the CCP against its own people due to their beliefs, philosophical or political opinion (prohibited in section I.2 of the Code, and elsewhere). This section refers to "discrimination between participants." If Beijing is awarded the 2008 Olympic Games, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that any members of the above groups will be prohibited from representing China in these games, due to their beliefs--particularly since many of these people would be behind bars, or being tortured in the infamous Chinese "Reeducation through Labour" camps or Detention Centres.
From the reports I have read, China would like the world to believe that its human rights abuses are internal affairs, and, regarding these abuses, Hein Verbruggen was quoted saying that the IOC "cannot take positions on political matters." Human rights abuses are not political, they are crimes against humanity. How can the current Olympic marketing campaign "Celebrating Humanity" be taken seriously if China's gross human rights abuses against its own people are discounted in the IOC's decision-making process?
Section V.I of the IOC Code of Ethics states: ... the spirit of humanism, fraternity and respect for individuals which inspires the Olympic ideal requires the governments of countries that are to host the Olympic Games to undertake that their countries will scrupulously respect the fundamental principles of the Olympic Charter and the present Code.
If Jiang Zemin does not even honour the freedom and human rights of the Chinese people, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the UN Charter of Human Rights, how can you possibly expect that he will honour any other code or charter, specifically the Olympic Charter and IOC Code of Ethics?
Please do not discount the horrific human rights abuse currently occurring under Jiang Zemin's government, and his government's shameful record in refusing to uphold its own constitution, when deciding the suitability of Beijing's hosting the 2008 Olympics.
Yours sincerely
Very soon, an international committee, meeting in Moscow, will decide which country will have the prestige of hosting the summer Olympic Games in 2008. Right now, in Congress, there is a resolution introduced by Tom Lantos and Christopher Cox opposing the selection of that nation of prison camps for peaceful dissenters.
Their resolution reminds their colleagues and the rest of us that when Adolf Hitler presided over the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936, the New York Times reported: "Olympics leave glow of pride in the Reich . . . A piece of perfect German pageantry . . . Visitors gain a good impression."
As part of this Olympics bid to distract attention from the Chinese government's remorseless persecution of people of religious faith and other prisoners of conscience in its gulags, the China National Tourist Administration paid for a splendidly illustrated 12-page insert in the June 10 New York Times Sunday magazine. The ad was titled "Discover China in the New Century . . . an ever-evolving new China." [...] The Embassy of China has sent a letter to members of Congress attacking the Lantos-Cox resolution on the 2008 Olympics. [...]
Amnesty International reports that "torture and ill-treatment of prisoners of conscience of all kinds continues to be widespread" in China. [...]
As of this writing, the House International Relations Committee has solidly approved the Lantos-Cox resolution by a 26-8 vote. But the House Republican leadership has taken no action on it so far, and it has not scheduled a debate on the floor. [...] We shamed ourselves in 1936. Do we want to leave "a glow of pride" among the commanders of the prison labor camps in China in 2008?
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20010702-29679756.htm
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On June 30 about 150 Falun Gong practitioners came to the park to celebrate "Zhen-Shan-Ren" Day in the City of Rockdale.
Practitioners gave a demonstration of the five sets of exercises and displayed posters on the persecution of Falun Gong in China. One newly immigrated practitioner related his personal persecution experience in China.
Senator George Thompson and Kent Johns also gave speeches to support Falun Gong and the principles of Zhen-San-Ren.
June 26 was UN International Anti-torture Day. On June 23 the Bay Area practitioners (CA) and local Amnesty International held an event at Garden Corner in San Francisco against the torture of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Around noon, Falun appeared in the sky and lasted about three hours.
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WATERVILLE -- Standing in silent concentration in the middle of their dining room floor, the couple executes a series of movements that at first glance appear to be some form of martial arts.
Stretching their arms high above their heads, they relax abruptly into a meditative stance with arms spread wide. Smooth arm and hand movements evolve into a swirling maneuver. The movements end in a seated, motionless meditation.
William and June Kirk are demonstrating the five sets of movements that coincide with the principles of Falun Dafa, a spiritual practice that urges practitioners to align themselves with truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.
Falun Gong is the physical part of Falun Dafa, a cultivation practice that originated in China and that the Kirks say promotes the refinement of both mind and body.
"The goal is to make a person become a better person," said William Kirk, 65, a military retiree, former tax assessor in Waterville and town manager of Standish. "You learn to give up your attachments."
His wife said Falun Dafa is about letting go of things like anger, jealousy, anxiety and desire for personal gain.
"It's all about tuning in to yourself," said June Kirk, 61, a retired bookkeeper.
"Once you let yourself go, you feel more at ease. You become your true self."
While Falun Dafa is not a religion, it has a similar goal of enlightenment, according to practitioners.
The Kirks said Falun Dafa is not a cult and there is no organization to join, no rituals, no religious hierarchy, no God figure or worship services.
In fact, no one can profit financially from Falun Dafa, they said. If indeed money does change hands, it is not Falun Dafa.
According to the writings of Li Hongzhi, founder of the current movement, Falun Dafa is an advanced cultivation method of the Buddha school and incorporates both Buddhist and Taoist concepts. [...]
[Mr. Li] Hongzhi publicly introduced Falun Dafa in 1992 at an international exhibition and within three years the practice is reported to have attracted millions.
By some estimates there are as many as 100 million Falun Dafa practitioners in China today. In Maine, more than 500 people have been introduced to Falun Dafa in places that include Waterville, Augusta, Portland, Kittery, Whitefield and Newport. June Kirk said that because no membership files are kept, the exact number of practitioners is not known.
[...]
The Chinese government in 1999 denounced Falun Gong as a [Jiang Zemin's slanderous term omitted] and outlawed its practice, according to the Kirks and articles written on the subject. [...]
A government that once praised Falun Dafa for making the masses more healthy and contributing to lowering medical costs, now bans it and arrests and tortures practitioners.
[...]
The practice took root in the United States in 1996, where no such restrictions exist, according to the Kirks.
June Kirk says she and her husband once were involved seriously in Tai Chi, even investing time and money in course workshops and seminars in Boston.
"I had gone to healing classes and was thinking about becoming a healer," she said. "We were doing a little in-home teaching and were just about ready to certify ourselves to be able to teach."
Then the couple happened to get a wellness magazine out of New Hampshire that talked about Falun Dafa and they decided check it out. That was two years ago.
After seeing the practice video and reading the books on Falun Dafa, the Kirks said they knew where they wanted to be.
"We were really excited with what this was doing for us; all of a sudden we could feel a difference," June Kirk said. "It's all about tuning in to yourself."
The pair said Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) reduces the stress in their lives and has helped them to become healthier.
"It gets rid of the root cause of health problems," June Kirk said.
[...]
Introduction to the practice can include a nine-day seminar, video seminar and 8-minute tape. The Kirks can be contacted locally for more information at 872-5298.
"We don't teach, we share, read the books and do the practice," June Kirk said. "It changes your inner self, you are awakened to the world, enlightened."
Her husband said Falun Dafa has given reason to his existence.
"All my life I always searched for something and there was still emptiness," William Kirk said. "Once I found Falun Dafa, my search stopped."
[...]
http://www.centralmaine.com/news/stories/010702falun_da.shtml